News

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — Two Black Democratic state legislators are accusing Virginia’s Republican party of racism for sending out flyers with drawings showing them hoisted in the air by handheld strings. The Richmond Times-Dispatch reports that the state GOP mailed out flyers targeting eight Democrats in competitive state House races, including three who are Black.

HOUSTON (AP) — Authorities say prosecutors are not seeking the death penalty for a man who fatally shot a family of six children and two parents at a Houston home. The Houston Chronicle reports that 54-year-old David Conley was charged with capital murder in the shooting of his estranged ex-girlfriend, her husband and six children,

By KEVIN McGILL Associated Press NEW ORLEANS (AP) — A federal lawsuit says Louisiana State University did too little to address allegations of sexual harassment and assault against a French graduate student, even after learning he had been arrested on a rape charge in central Louisiana. The lawsuit was filed earlier this week by six

By ED WHITE Associated Press DETROIT (AP) — Michigan is urging residents of Benton Harbor to use bottled water for cooking and drinking, a major shift in response to elevated levels of lead. The state has been making free bottled water and filters available in Benton Harbor for a few weeks. But the announcement Wednesday

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexico has sent another plane load of Haitian migrants back to their homeland on a flight carrying 129 people to Port au Prince.  Unlike the first repatriation flight in late September, Mexico did not specify that all those aboard Wednesday’s flight were returning voluntarily, and some appear to have been escorted

By KEVIN FREKING and JOSH BOAK Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Republican and Democratic senators have edged back from a perilous standoff over lifting the nation’s borrowing cap. Democrats are signaling they are receptive to an offer from Republican leader Mitch McConnell that would allow for an emergency debt limit extension into December. McConnell made

DEPUE, Ill. (AP) — Efforts to change the roughly 200-year-old racist name of a creek in northern Illinois are gaining traction. The (Peoria) Journal Star reports that Negro Creek was named after the DePue area’s first Black settler built a cabin at the creek in 1829. Amy Urbanowski, a former area resident, has received support

By BRUCE SCHREINER Associated Press FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) — Kentucky’s Republican attorney general is seeking another shot at defending an embattled 2018 law in court. The law would halt a second-trimester procedure to end pregnancies.  Attorney General Daniel Cameron said Wednesday he hopes his legal team can persuade the U.S. Supreme Court at a hearing

By DAVID PORTER Associated Press NEWARK, N.J. (AP) — A former Army major and his wife who prosecutors said routinely beat their young foster children and denied them food and water have avoided more prison time. Wednesday’s proceeding in Newark was the third sentencing in the case against John and Carolyn Jackson after federal appeals

By JENNIFER PELTZ Associated Press UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Days after kicking out seven U.N. officials, Ethiopia is accusing them without providing evidence of inflating the magnitude of humanitarian crisis in its Tigray region. U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres responded Wednesday by pressing the country for documentation of the allegations. The exchange happened at a Security

LEXINGTON, Ky. (AP) — A federal judge ruled that a former Kentucky Democratic Party chair must report to prison next month on campaign finance charges. The Lexington Herald-Leader reported Wednesday that Jerry Lundergan was ordered to go to prison Nov. 30 after the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the 74-year-old’s conviction and rejected a

By MICHAEL R. SISAK Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — New York City’s police department has placed the embattled former head of its sergeants union on modified assignment, stripping him of his gun and shield, a day after federal agents raided the union’s office and his home. Ed Mullins resigned Tuesday night as the president

By BARBARA ORTUTAY and AMANDA SEITZ Associated Press When whistleblower Frances Haugen this week revealed internal Facebook studies of the harms its Instagram service can cause, particularly for teenagers, she reinforced concerns about the popular photo-sharing app. But what can parents do? Trying to get your kids to quit Instagram might be a lost cause.

By ANDREW SELSKY Associated Press SALEM, Ore. (AP) — Oregon’s court of appeals reversed the murder conviction and death sentence of a Black man, saying his defense team failed to interview a key witness who saw a white man fleeing the victim’s home. Jesse Johnson was accused of stabbing Harriet Thompson, a 28-year-old Black nurse’s